Insecticide Sprays for Control of the Sugarcane Borer (Scb), Small-Plot Screening Test, 1983

Foliar sprays for control of season-long SCB infestations were applied to a stand of sugarcane (Var. CP 65-357, 1st stubble crop) at Sweet Home Planation, Savoie Sugars, Inc., Belle Rose, LA. The experimental design was a randomized complete block with 6 replications. Individual plots contained 3 rows (spaced 6 ft apart) that were 24 ft long. Each spray concentrate was applied from a single nozzle to the crop canopy at 22 psi with a CO2 pressurized knapsack sprayer that delivered 2.7 gal of finished formulation/acre. All insecticide treatments were begun after sugarcane intemodes were visible and when 5% of the stalks in check plots harbored small larvae in leaf sheaths and were repeated 3 wk later; application dates were 20 Jul and 10 Aug. The efficacy of insecticide treatments was evaluated at crop harvest (6 Oct) by comparing the % intemodes expressing damage by seasonal populations of SCB larvae in treated plots with that found in untreated plots. Twenty five stalks, selected at random from the center row of each plot, were visually scanned for external signs of internode penetration by SCB larvae.